pSaysay mounts quincentennial exhibit

Project Saysay Inc. and the National Quincentennial Committee (NQC), together with the Cebu City Tourism Council (CCTC), launched the maiden traveling exhibit titled Ang Pilipinas at ang Unang Pag-ikot sa Daigdig (The Philippines and the First Circumnavigation) on 13 April 2021, the eve of the 500 Years of Christianity, at the Ayala Center Cebu.

CCTC adopted the 13 panels of Project Saysay to form this Cebu City exhibit dubbed Kagikan: Pre-Colonial Exhibit. The NQC also declared this exhibit curated and designed by Project Saysay as the committee's official traveling exhibit. A link to the panels was made available to any institutions interested to reproduce and mounting them.

Inauguration of the exhibit.

The event was graced by Dr. Rene R. Escalante, NQC Executive Director and concurrently Chairperson of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Cebu City Vice-Mayor Michael Rama, Cebu City Councilor Dondon Hontiveros, and CCTC Chairperson Joy Pesquera. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, limited guests were invited.

In his speech, Escalante acknowledged Project Saysay's technical support, to wit: "I would also like to acknowledge the support of Project Saysay Inc., a youth-led non-government organization on public history, for sponsoring the designing and curation of the exhibit text and materials from the NHCP."

Some of the exhibit panels.

Escalante also recognized Project Saysay's contribution to the online campaigns of the NQC, especially in developing its social media content: "If you may ask, it is Project Saysay that has been designing the visuals of the Facebook contents of the NQC since we launched the social media page in November 2018, pro bono." Ian Christopher Alfonso, founder and former executive director of Project Saysay, supervises the NQC Secretariat since May 2018.

Project Saysay was represented on the occasion by historian Xiao Chua.

Project Saysay Inc. is a registered non-government youth organization with a vision to actively champion the popularization and visualization of Philippine history since 2013. Its mission is to propagate relevant, useful, and inspiring information—in print and online—sourced from Philippine history. It has objectives to [1.] distribute quality posters to Philippine schools for free, here and abroad; [2.] generate sensible and accurate online materials that are shareable and attune to the needs of the time; and [3.] create platforms to express creativity and academic exchanges related to history and culture. Its motto is We find examples in history (May saysay ang kasaysayan).